Manchester United may yet kick off next season without Cristiano Ronaldo - but the club insist it will not be because he is being sold to Real Madrid.



The Portugal winger is expected to undergo ankle surgery next week, which could rule him out for six weeks.


Confirmation of Ronaldo's operation comes after the view of a specialist backed up that of medical staff from both United and the Portuguese Football Association.


The news came on the day United were forced to rubbish fresh reports from Spain that the 23-year-old will sign for Real, the latest claiming he will move within a matter of days.


A club spokesman told PA Sport: 'It is utter nonsense and totally laughable. Cristiano Ronaldo is not for sale.'


Despite Ronaldo's desire to move and a huge fee of around £70million being on offer, United chiefs believe selling the player would cause huge disruption to the club.


Apart from the effect on the team's playing style and formation, it would also send a signal United are in some way a lesser team than Real.


The Glazer family bought United because they viewed it as the biggest club in the world so they cannot afford to been seen as weaker than Real Madrid, one of their biggest European rivals, or in thrall to their star player.


The message chief executive David Gill has given to the Glazers is if they stand firm on Ronaldo and neither sell him nor give him another big new contract then it will strike a major blow against player-power and have long-term future benefits for the club.


There is no real financial incentive to the Glazers either - the club's profits are already covering their debt repayments easily so there is no requirement to raise new capital.


If they considered selling Ronaldo, United manager Sir Alex Ferguson would argue he would need all the £70million fee as transfer funds to replace his most valuable player.

The incredible turnaround has come after los Merengues' own deadline of July 7 passed to sign the Portuguese star and they are now looking increasingly desperate.

Marca have led the campaign in the media and now appear to be tired themselves of only having one story to report on a daily basis and actually appear to be conceding defeat.

Their report on Thursday suggests that while Ronaldo has agreed personal terms with Madrid and stated his desire to move to them privately, nothing can happen until he tells Manchester United.

Whether he has any intention of doing that does not bother the Madrid-biased paper because they are safe from being found out while Ronaldo recuperates from surgery in Portugal.

"Manchester United already know that Cristiano Ronaldo wants to leave, but until the player tells them this officially he cannot go anywhere," an alleged source close to the club told Marca.

The summer saga has dragged on and in Spain it is believed that United have asked for €100m and Madrid are not willing to pay more than €85m or meet some of the Premier League team's clauses.

In England it is reported that no price has been put to the Spanish giants and that everyone at Old Trafford has told Madrid that there will be no deal.

Marca are now ready to move on and believe that Van der Vaart will now be signed to bolster Bernd Schuster's attacking options after he agreed personal terms with the club.

Hamburg are prepared to negotiate and a deal could be done in a few days, the paper continues, which would mean that Ronaldo's possible move could be on hold for a while longer.

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